Hong Lok Ground breaking group shot

 

New Hong Lok House Groundbreaking

 

    Volume II, Issue 2

 

 October, 2011    

     

In This Issue
New Hong Lok House Groundbreaking
Donor Profile
Rogerson House Elders Donate Dollhouses To Help Children
 

 

 

President's Message

 
Jamie Seagle 

 

Breaking ground for the new Hong Lok House was a tremendous feat.
Our colleagues who believed that Chinatown's elders deserve a new Hong Lok House, helped Rogerson Communities to realize perhaps the most important project we've ever undertaken. Having just celebrated our 150
th anniversary at Rogerson Communities, that's
saying a lot.

 

The groundbreaking event held on August 4, 2011 was an opportunity to  thank our  

contributors.

On behalf of all who will be so richly served by this project, I thank all our funders and supporters.

 

James F. Seagle, Jr.
President,
Rogerson Communities
  
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Public Private Partnership Makes
New Hong Lok House A Reality

 

Rogerson Communities is working with the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center (GBCGAC), a nonprofit that serves Chinese-speaking Asian seniors, to develop the new Hong Lok House on Essex Street in Boston's Chinatown. In August of 2011, nonprofit leaders, public officials, and funders put a ceremonial shovel in the ground to celebrate the beginning of construction. 


The event marked the culmination of a five year effort to lay the groundwork for a vital residential and programatic center for Chinatown's seniors. 

  

The new building will replace the existing Hong Lok House, an outdated 28-unit HUD-202 residence developed in 1978 for low-income elders.  To be built in phases by general contractor Walsh Brothers, no residents will be displaced during the project.

  

As Boston's premier developer of affordable elder housing, Rogerson Communities took on the complicated task of fundraising and securing financing, as well as managing design and ultimately, construction of the new 8-story Hong Lok House. Just as financing was falling into place, the economic downturn of 2008 stalled the process. City, state, and private funders all came together to bring the project to fruition.

 

 Hong Lok Speaker1  Hong Lok Speaker 4  Hong Lok Speaker 3

(Left) Jamie Seagle, Rogerson Communities; (Center) Edward Lewis, Kensington Investment Company, Inc.; (Right)  George A. Russell, Jr., State Street Corporation.

 

The new Hong Lok House, designed by Chia-Ming Sze Architect, Inc., will feature:   

  • 74 new apartments for low-income elders with a live-in manager's unit 
  • An adult day health program for 32 participants daily, with wheelchair and street level accessibility and privacy for medical treatment
  • "Green roof" and Tai Chi deck
  • A separate senior drop-in center, offering community space, fitness programs and ballroom dancing

Rogerson Communities is excited to continue its efforts in developing properties that meet high standards for green buildings. Hong Lok House will meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard.

 

"We are very excited about this project. It reflects the breadth and depth of Rogerson Communities' commitment to make a difference for all of our community's elders," said Rogerson Communities President Jamie Seagle, adding, "We could not have moved this monumental effort forward without the cooperative support of so many."

  

Donor Profile:  Gary P. Kearney, M.D. 

 

Top doc. Naval officer. Airplane pilot. Husband. Father.
Grandfather.  Friend.

 

How to tell the story of Rogerson donor Dr. Gary P. Kearney? The angles are near infinite. Perhaps the best way to start is to note that it's really your story he's interested in. His passions are broad, but they all involve people, places and things who are better off for having known him.  


For the past decade, Gary has served as a member of the board of directors at Rogerson Communities, having first learned of the organization through friends who had served. "People I admired were doing something charitable that is not very high profile," he says. "The more I learned about Rogerson, the more I understood that what we do is extremely valuable." Today Gary chairs the organization's development committee, noting that as a trustee, "You have a financial obligation toward ensuring organizational success." Gary takes his role very seriously, contributing significantly in three traditional board areas: offering his time, talent and treasure.  


Gary is also very involved in the U.S.S. Constitution Museum, the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and the New England Baptist Hospital. All of those affiliations grew directly out of his own life experience and personal passions. A deeper connection to Rogerson's mission may be at first difficult to discern - that is, until you learn that it harks all the way back to his undergraduate days in Chicago, where he found room and board in an elderly men's rest home in exchange for waiting tables and running the switchboard. He says, "Spending so much time with older people, I really learned the value of a person's story.  I've never forgotten that experience."


Fortunately for the world of philanthropy, Gary and his wife Susan are committed to ensuring our charitable future. For decades they have involved their children in family meetings about charitable giving, and engaged them early on as participants in the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. And further, through estate planning, Gary and Susan have ensured that their progeny will continue on their charitable paths.


Gary P. Kearney, M.D. spent his early years in California, went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts Degree with honors from Northwestern University, and returned to his home state to earn his Doctor of Medicine Degree at the University of California, San Francisco in 1965.  On completion of active duty in the United States Navy during the Vietnam conflict, he trained as a Urological Surgeon at the Harvard Program of Urology, Longwood area.  Since 1973 he has been on the staff of the Brigham & Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital where he is trustee, President of the Medical Staff, Chief of Urology, and Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery.  Gary and his wife Susan, an antiques dealer and avid gardener, have raised four children and have five grandchildren. Their combined lifetime giving program has been to give each child the gift of education, and they want nothing more than for each of them to develop and pursue their own passion.  

  

Rogerson House Elders Donate
Dollhouses To The Italian Home For Children 
 

dollhouses 

Residents and staff from Rogerson House visited
The Italian Home for Children
to present two handmade dollhouses.

 

This summer, Rogerson House residents and day program participants combined their talents of woodworking, quilting, painting and design to collectively build two dollhouses. Each dollhouse is about two feet wide by 18 inches tall with every detail carefully crafted - right down to the hand-stitched miniature quilts for the beds and rugs for the floors. Creating these dollhouses provided an enriching experience for participants to use skills they otherwise might have forgotten.

 

The Rogerson House artisans decided to donate the dollhouses to be enjoyed by the youths at The Italian Home for Children. For people with memory loss, having a sense of purpose can make a tremendous difference. 


The staff at The Italian Home plan to use the houses for play therapy with the children they serve. Rogerson House residents, participants, and staff are proud to know that the dollhouses will enrich the lives of children in need.  

 

Upcoming Events

 

SAVE THE DATE: Welcome Home! Gala November 9, 2011 @ Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.  
 

View the Invitation!
 


 

 

Thank You...for reading Inside Rogerson Communities. It is only with the support of our friends and donors that we can continue to promote the dignity, vitality, and longevity of our elder neighbors. Help support Rogerson by making a donation today - click here. 
Contact Info

Anne Morton Smith, VP, Development & Community Relations [email protected]  (617) 469-5810

Courtney Barth, Director of Individual Giving [email protected]  (617) 469-5822
Jeff Walker, Director of Communications [email protected]  (617) 469-5809
Photo credits: Anne Morton Smith and Jeff Walker